As writers write, they need a set of strategies to move from thinking about a paper to polishing a final draft–strategies that vary depending on the nature of the writing task and its audience. This course will help you explore and practice a variety of such strategies as you draft, revise, and edit different pieces of writing. Since each writer’s needs are unique, this course will provide lots of individual attention and feedback from me as well as from other students in class. I also encourage you to seek reactions to your ideas and drafts from people outside of this course. In addition to family and friends, consider soliciting advice from tutors in the Writing Center.

The course aims to encourage you to work collaboratively with your classmates, teachers, and other college resources such as the libraries and the Writing Center. Along with good reading, writing, and research skills, understanding the processes of collaboration will help you succeed here at college and in your professional lives.
This class will also introduce you to several aspects of computer research and pedagogy. We will frequently be doing class exercises and collaborative work on computer. You do not have to have expertise on the computer to succeed in this class, but you will have to work frequently on computer-aided assignments.

Portfolio (Blog): Keep all your writing for this course, including in-class and out-of-class working notes, drafts, revisions, final drafts, reader response answers, and journal entries. At the end of the semester, you will review your portfolio (blog) to analyze and evaluate your progress, and I will review it as part of your final grade.

Course Requirements

• 4 Essays

40%

• Portfolio (Blog) and Portfolio Analysis

20%

• Collaboration, Drafts, Peer Review Participation

5%

• Pop Quizzes, In-Class Exercises, Improvement

5%

• Teacher Conferences, Writing Center Attendance

5%

Grading Scale

Grades on individual assignments are computed according to the following scale:

A= 4.0

B+= 3.3

C+= 2.3

D+= 1.3

E=. 3

A-= +3.7

B+ 3.0=

C= 2.0

D=1.0

No Paper= 0

B-=2.7

C-=1.7

D-=.7

If there are no plus or minus final grades at the college, the following scale will be used to determine the final grade.

A student will receive a final grade no lower than the grade determined by the following formula:

A= 3.5-4.0 B= 2.5-3.49 C= 1.5-2.49 D= .5-1.49 E= .49 and below

Grading Criteria

During the semester, I will be teaching you strategies to accomplish effective academic research and writing. On your papers, I will be looking for evidence that you are learning those strategies. I will be looking for the following in your papers:
1. tone and style appropriate for the indicated audience,
2. a main persuasive thesis, adequately, but not over-powerfully, supported with evidence from sources and field research,
3. personal, critical thinking about the subject and analysis of the evidence,
4. appropriate and effective use of the required format (classical oration or professional proposal/report),
5. appropriate and effective use of the skills taught for a particular assignment,
6. effective transitions, emphasizing both the thesis and the organizational flow of the paper,
7. appropriate, correct, and persuasive use of source material,
8. effective, interest catching opening and closing passages (introductions/background and conclusions as required in past papers),
9. proper and appropriate documentation of sources, using either MLA or APA conventions,
10. clear, convincing, interesting, and informative prose,
11. proper and professional use of the conventions of written English.

Course Outline Overview

We will have five units, which we will call “Workshops.” Here is an overview of the Workshops. More detailed information about the assignments for workshops is in the Course Schedule and in the Workshop pages on this blog.

In Workshop One, your major paper will be a personal Memoir. This assignment has 2 parts. In part A, you must write a 6 word memoir. In part B, you have the choice of writing 400-500 words on one of three options for writing memoirs.

In Workshop Two, your major paper will be a profile. In this assignment, you will write a 350-450 word profile of someone you know. You will write about someone you know well and like—for example, a roommate, friend, acquaintance, coworker, or relative. You will paint a verbal picture of this person that views him or her from a specific angle and that captures something essential about him or her—an idea, social cause, insight, or theme.

In Workshop Three, your paper will be the analysis will be of a film or novel which has as a theme “coming of age,” sometimes called “rite of passage” literature. Your paper will be a maximum of 3 pages long and have a maximum of 3 sources. No more and no fewer than 4). You will look at an artistic work and offer a critical analysis of it. This is NOT a movie or book review, but rather an essay that argues for a specific interpretation in relation to the movie or novel’s treatment of “coming of age”.

Remember that some films have material that may be objectionable to some viewers or be rated “R”. Neither CGCC nor your instructor is requiring you to watch such films.

In Workshop Four, you will write a Rhetorical Analysis. You will analyze a famous speech in order to determine how and why it is considered influential. Your objective is to show why the speech was effective or persuasive.

In Workshop Five, you will have two major assignments: (1) a Portfolio (Blog), which will include a “Portfolio Analysis” of your writing for this class, (2) a “Powerpoint Presentation” on one of the topics you have studied this semester. You may work in pairs or teams for this Presentation.

Course Schedule

This schedule lists the main reading, work and assignments we will do in this class. We will also have impromptu assignments and quizzes as we discover the needs of the students in the class.

The readings and assignments listed are due to be completed on the date in the left column. Print out Assignment Guidelines and bring them to class at the BEGINNING OF EACH WORKSHOP so that you have a copy to look at and make notes on in class. Keep them in your class folder or binder.